A Weekend of Special Ocasions:

Well, this weekend is definitely a weekend of special occasions. Here is the run down:

• Thursday: Wedding Rehearsal for Justin Lynch and Kari Pettit Wedding.
  
• Friday: Wedding Ceremony for David Crews and Angela Scroggs at the Wilhite House in Anderson. (This wedding was absolutely beautiful...yes, David did cry when he saw his bride. I love that!!)
  
• Saturday AM: Anderson University Graduation at NewSpring Church. I was able to see so many of my peeps graduate. Congrats to: Bridget Bagwell, Andrew Sentell, Shearer Wludyka, Meagan Gregory, Heather Raffini, Miranda Doolittle, and Whitney White. They are all volunteers in Ignite Middle School Ministry, except for Andrew...he is on staff full-time with Ignite. Congrats! You all rock!
  
• Saturday PM: Wedding Ceremony for Justin Lynch and Kari Pettit.
• Sunday AM: Worship Service at NewSpring...which is always a special occasion in my book. Especially since, Perry is teaching on the vision of the church...should be freakin awesome! Come and join us!!
  
• Sunday PM: Last IGNITE service at the Fusebox, our Student Ministry Facility at the Anderson Mall. We are moving throughout this whole week...you should come and help us move...to our new facility that will be called "The 2Seven."
  

WOW!! A whole lot going on, but a lot of fun and excitement happening! by the way, I love all the special occasions this weekend. They are a whole lot of fun to be apart of! Peace!

Unleash at NewSpring.....

Today was AWESOME! I witnessed so much today that blessed my heart and continued to build my passion for Jesus and the local church. here are a couple of my thoughts from today:

• Perry rocked in out in both main sessions.
  
• Tony Morgan has posted all of the points from both sessions, so check out his detailed notes over at his blog on Session 1 and Session 2. **You will get a kick out of some of the comments rolling around over there.**
  
• It was great to be able to speak to so many student pastors from all over the country and see the passion they had to reach the students in their community. They asked some great questions during the breakout that Brad Cooper and I led.
  
• I look forward to hanging out with some Student pastors from NorthPoint Community Church, Elevation Church, Brookwood Church, Ridgestone Church, Crossroads Community Church, and many others to continue to network and learn from each other!
  
• NewSpring Volunteers ROCK! Our volunteers rocked the house today. One frequent conference attender told me that our volunteers showed more excitement, willingness to serve, and professionalism than he has ever seen at any other conference! GO NEWSPRING VOLUNTEERS!!
• I love the staff I work with! the NewSpring Staff is AWESOME!! Everyone worked hard this week to make it happen. "Teamwork makes the dreamwork!"
• Lastly, I look forward to hear some of the things that God is going to do in the lives of some of the churches that attended Unleash. It is going to be amazing!
  
  

First Wednesday at NewSpring.....

Last night was First Wednesday at NewSpring and it was awesome. Perry brought it! Here are the notes from the night:

Four Things That I Can Make Jesus More Famous In:

"But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Exodus 9:16

1. My Focus
• Matthew 6:33, "Seek FIRST His Kingdom..."
• Jeremiah 29:13
  
2. My Family
• Ephesians 5:22
• Ephesians 5:25
• Ephesians 6:1
  
3. My Finances
• 2 Corinthians 8:7
  
4. My Final Destination
• Luke 5:27-32
  

Ridgestone Church & Unleashed....

I just got back from eating lunch with Preston Porter and his wife, along with Pudge. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to talk with him, ask him questions, he ask me questions. I love being asked questions about why we do what we do , because it always helps me continue to evaluate in my mind those same questions.

By the way, speaking of questions. That will be format for the Unleash Conference here at NewSpring Church. We have over 700 people signed up! It is going to be awesome. The breakout sessions will be in Question and Answer format. You ask questions, we will do our best to answer...by the way...by no means do we have all the answers, but we do know what God has done here at NewSpring and would love to share it with you. So, sign up...today...now! See you there!

Baptism at NewSpring....

We had baptism here at NewSpring on Feb. 24^th and the FINAL count is 219.

Oh by the way from 2/25/06 to 2/24/07 we baptized 972 people.

That is CRAZY AWESOMENESS!!! Thank you Jesus!!!

Jet Plane.....

I am sitting in the Knoxville, TN Airport waiting to board a plane to take us to Chicago, IL for the SHIFT Conference put on by Willow Creek. I am looking forward to hanging out with the rest of the Student Ministry Team while we are in Chicago, learning from so many other people. Continue to pray for us as we travel, also pray that we learn a lot and have the time to continue to dream while we are here.

Anyway, it is quite boring in airports! Long lines of seats, long lines of people waiting to board the plane, people laying on the floor sleeping, people reading magazines, people acting like they are praying, but actually sleeping, etc. Sort of boring! Here is what I mean:

First Time at NewSpring.....

Joe Sangl sent this link in an email to the staff. He found it on YouTube. This video documented an older gentleman's first time in church in 20 years! It is 9 minutes long, but well worth the watch. Check out here or down below.

Be sure to catch the quote that hit me square in the eyes!

Son: Now I was worried you wouldn't like it.
Father: Nah, I liked it (I think!?!?)
Son: I know it was a BIG change from what you saw 20 years ago.
Father: Well, you just about have to change, just about have to change.....

WOW!!!

To the Young Man who produced/filmed the video:

Thank you for allowing me to share in this experience. I was greatly moved and it brought me to tears! I pray that your father will continue to come church on a regular basis. God Bless!!

Also jump over and check out Perry's thoughts about the video!

Excited about....

I am really excited about two things that are headed our way!

1. UNLEASHED Conference - NewSpring Church, March 15th. Please go to Perry's blog to check out this thoughts and excitement about UNLEASHED at this link. I am excited because it will be formatted in a way that will welcome questions, discussion, and not just lectures. I am also excited because I will have the opportunity to lead the roundtable on Student Ministry with Brad Cooper, our High School Pastor. It will be a whole lot of fun! Hope to see you there!
   
2. PUDGEHUCKABY.COM - Pudge is getting back in blogging after a hiatus. Should be interesting to see what in the world he write about. Especially since his first post on Monday, January 29th, will be titled, “How to Bore Kids to Hell at Church…”. Be sure to check out, add it to your feeds, whatever you want. He asked me not to mention that be begged me to put this post up! So, don't mention it to him! ;)
   

WELCOME.....

Tony Morgan announced that he will be joining the team at NewSpring Church. Tony, welcome to the team! We look forward to having you join us on this awesome journey that God has put us on. I know that Granger Community Church will be sad to see him go, but we are grateful to have him serve with us.

Transitions are always difficult, as you leave a comfortable house, comfortable job, friends, family and much more, but God is ALWAYS faithful in those times. I will never forget how HARD the transition to NewSpring from Florence, SC, but God was AWESOME to us. We were blessed way more than we could ever imagine. Anyway, God calls us to follow and that is it. Sometimes we do not understand and we wonder why, but we must follow. When God calls...follow and enjoy the ride He has chosen you for!

Tony, thanks for following the call on yours and your family's life. See you in South Carolina soon!